English Premier League in India

The English Premier League (EPL) since its re-invention and re-branding in 1992 has become the richest, most watched and successful league in the world. It has entered previously untapped markets by marketing itself successfully. Asia in particular, has become a huge fan zone and hence a revenue stream for the league. There is economic, sociological and marketing logic behind the English Premier League’s popularity in India. English Premier League’s reach that has expanded with every passing year in a cricket crazy nation. Factors like economics, marketing, socio-economic, globalisation, commercialising celebrity etc. have played a part in popularity of football and especially English Premier League.

Furthermore, tellingly and discerningly there is a differentiating factor for the youth who follow it. It gives them identity in being associated with a football club and being an ardent supporter when they don’t have an opportunity to support their nation in marquee international football events. The coverage of EPL gave the Indian audience an experience previously unknown, and the coverage has continued with its novelty factor by using media, marketing and advertising. Meanwhile the big clubs of the league have branded themselves so as to get into the mind-space of people in South-Asia.

In case of football, India is a world-class spectator nation. The journey of football spectatorshiphas evolved from a colonial legacy to the present state of consumerist branded commodity of today. We reside in the new media age where sports and media can’t live without each other. A sport needs new markets and so does the media. The television and globalisation factor has created millions of EPL fans who are a sub-set among sporting enthusiasts. India comes with its peculiarities, yet EPL enjoys moderate amount of fan-base in a country where sports other than cricket hardly have a foothold.

A Fringe Nation

India has been a fringe nation on world stage if we consider participation; however India does have a huge following from a viewership perspective. When one refers about football in India, its spread with respect to the national team and young kids taking up the game, India is termed quite justifiably as a ‘sleeping giant’. The term has been used with varying degrees of justification for many other countries, especially to those in Africa, where the giant has woken and has startled others in doing so. In China, to take another example, the giant appears to be awake but is seemingly incapable of getting out of the bed.

In modern India, no hyperbole is sufficient enough to capture the importance of cricket in the country’s national life. India, the second most populous nation in the world has a rather insignificant presence in the world of sports with cricket being it’s only shot at world domination.

The fascination for others sports are not the same as it is for cricket simply because there are not enough match winners to root for and look forward to. The successes are few and sporadic and have not resulted as a part of the system but rather despite it, because of the excellence of particularly talented individuals. The national game hockey and football are a very distant second.

A nation with genuine sporting culture tries to be good at all sports and not just one, which a handful of countries play and are actually good at in the whole world. The football in India is in a state of decline if it plateaued and is in continuous mediocrity. But curiously, in such a time, there is a generation of viewers who follow European football with vigour, who are a sub-set of genuine sports lovers. These fans are beginning to increase in several regions of the nation, especially the urban centres. These regions have developed because a combination of colonial legacy, the globally televised football leagues and the market economics of urban centers of India.

Globalisation and Indian football

India has always been a place abound with contradictions and irony. A place where prosperity and penury live cheek by jowl. And as much as the EPL has been a success among Indians, the local league has taken a severe hit and suffered due to the might of the factors of globalisation.

The EPL has came in and along with the parallel cable and satellite television growth has made India a spectator market, while the talent market has not been helped at all. Youngsters watch the football but never go to the football pitch. That there are not many is another matter, but neither particularly does Brazil but the football is played in the streets and sands and there again is another irony. They cheer off field but never take the field themselves devoid of infrastructure to play themselves. Because of being not represented at international level for a very long time now, Indian football fans have taken to supporting foreign teams. These adopted favourites are cheered with fervour every two years in the Euros and the World Cup. The panoply of colours and vibrant excitement of Kolkata celebrating a Brazil victory would give Rio de Janerio a run for its money. The support that Portugal has in Goa is as fervent as in Lisbon. Importantly, this is not just for West Bengal and Goa. There are sizable chunk of supporters for Argentina, Spain, Germany and England. And even though this behaviour of Indians may seem peculiar; fed on a staple diet of English Premier League, this adulation and rooting for foreign countries is not that a perplexing development.

This trend has bearings of globalisation which has brought world class quality football to the living rooms of India. The fans watch the EPL which itself has opened up to foreign players over the years and hence gives the visibility and exposure to these players who gradually become favourites and when they don their national colours for Euros or the World cup, that supported is carried over to their respective nations. Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal, Didier Drogba and Ivory Coast and Cesc Fabregas and Spain are prime examples.

There are plenty of reasons for football to grow but the growth has not been organic and wide spread in terms of local team and indigenous talent. The booming of commercial and spectator market will continue as urban centers grow. India has sold and will continue to sell jerseys for English clubs and the broadcasting rights will be sold with higher rates than before.

English Premier League in India

Economics of football broadcasting in India.

As a measure to involve more eyeballs, the kick-offs of some games in the recent years have been pulled back by FA in England to noon from the traditional late afternoon to allow Asia, especially Singapore and the South-east Asia to get games starting at 8 pm local time. Although not of particular bearing to India, but this move shows the importance given to the global fan and revenue stream by the FA. The games in India have 5.30 pm and 8.30 pm starts which means that they are half an hour (+/-) off the prime time slot. The starting times happen to slightly favour the Indian prime-time viewing too, but the fans would watch the Monday or Tuesday night late kick-offs as well if the club they support is playing, hence the motivation to watch is present.

Motives for EPL viewing

Times have changed since the pre-Independence British India when the poor followed football and cricket was aristocratic. Now and for the past decade too, it is the affluent middle-class youngsters who have become the new followers .A largely urban fan base, with fans in four metropolitan cities and their satellite towns, the motivating factors are many. The cities with fairly good following of the leagues are Trivandrum, Bangalore, Mangalore, Surat and Pune. For the followers it is also about differentiation. They do not want to be identified as cricket crazy .They would rather be true sports aficionados and know the difference between off-side of cricket and football.

The supporting of a club that is half way around the world doesn’t contribute to local, ethnic or national identity; rather it is an expression of individual identity. This need to stand out is the reason to embrace the exuberance and class of the EPL and in that a club to support and root for. And when there are enough people with a similar attitude, they form a sizable chunk of new fans, which is particularly observed in colleges where trends can be infectious. An example can be the city of Mangalore on the west coast of India, very close to where Manipal University is based with more than 20, 000 students. The adjoining regions of Udipi, Mangalore and Manipal and the student cluster over there ensures that Mangalore regularly features in Google trends of searches made regarding the English clubs even above, Kolkata and Pune.

The EPL follower in India is like a fantasy football manager of the club he supports. The use of ‘he’ here is deliberate as the fan is invariably a male. Quite analogous to the armchair quarterback myth in American Football. This fan is a passionate person, religiously following the games throughout the season consumed by the saga of his club’s fate. A positive result uplifts his mood and a terrible performance spoils it.

Indian media and football

The role of media in EPL popularity is also not a small one. By covering the EPL in the newspapers, the reader gets a gradual recognition of the players, teams and the league rivalries. Unlike England where the build-up and post-match reviews and analysis are found in the newspapers, India just carries the results in the following day’s newspapers. However the coverage is substantial especially in metro editions of leading tabloids and newspapers. What is also noticed that other leagues are given decreasingly low print-space. The Spanish League is next on the priority list followed by Serie A .Other teams from Europe like Bayern Munich or Shaktar Donetsk are mentioned only when UEFA Champions League games come along. And the Indian league and domestic tournaments are covered in the local or national sports section. But quite consistently, the EPL stories remain the headline grabbers.

In simple words, India is outsourcing its football entertainment now. Commercial interest of football in India is in the metros and big cities that have become used to seeing the best leagues beamed live into the living rooms and pubs. Increasingly Indians now clamour to buy their official merchandise to exhibit loyalty to respective clubs. This is largely because as on television, even in the newspapers, the visibility of European football is hard to miss. People would wear a club t-shirt as casual wear. Indians would however think more than twice to wear a Nike made Indian cricket jersey if it is not peak cricket season.

The creation of a national TV network and the simultaneous creation of a new consumerist middle class has helped EPL grow a great deal and while India may not have a Ji-Sung Park yet nor decent football parks, yet the game is slowly growing. The broadcasting administration is being quiet about their ambitions and doesn’t want to wage a war against cricket by entering into open competition with the number one sport. That is not going to happen in a very long while, but football is well on its way to become a very close second. The EPL has some major positives, and those being that EPL has a very good system and match schedule worked out which is spread over September–May, carefully addressing the issue of overkill by deft scheduling. Its only weakness is the same as an opportunity – it’s limited to urban areas and its satellite towns, so there lays tremendous room for improvement.

There is a difference in a developing market like India and mature markets elsewhere .In a mature market, the fans support local teams .With the chaotic and ill-organised national league, that option is not even able to present itself, as the collective consciousness has been subsumed by the EPL and its glamour.

Note : This is brief part of a 10,000 word fully referenced essay on this topic.The essay explores a detailed look into the economics, marketing, socio-economic, globalisation aspects for spread of EPL in India .Anyone interested can contact me. Just drop a mail.